so much better with a bit of creative tweaking

The most epic quest line I can remember is the opening of the AQ gates quest. Afterwards, another epic questline was introduced to upgrade the dungeon zero set.

These two quests requred travelling buy cheap wow gold all over Azeroth. The concerted efforts of many people. And somehow, the excitement didn't go away after a few weeks.

This questline could be so much better with a bit of creative tweaking;

Allow a portion of the quest to be completed through Archaeology. Something like:

- Night elf sites have a 25% chance of containing a rare [Container] that could have X reagent for summoning fire mobs in X zone. Tradeable. Requires 10 per summon. The fire mobs drop quest items.

Incorporate elements from guild events, fishing, heck, have a secret part where you need to use a canine non-combat pets to sniff out a mounds of dirt in Firelands a la Shinies.

If the staff is rare and legendary then gate it so that only 25 mounds spawn per clear and each mound has a 20% chance to drop the item.

Killing bosses for shadowfrost... er, shadowfire shards is a very dull and calculated way of saying "Only one person in a raiding group will get this at a time."